Information Society Innovation Fund
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Meshing Up Mahavilachchiya. Horizon Lanka Foundation, Sri Lanka: 14

Project background and justification

Sri Lanka has a high literacy rate of 94 per cent, and a free education system up to tertiary level. However, the intake into universities is around 2 per cent and thus is highly competitive.

Mesh Internet Network in Mahavilachchiya - Phase II In general, rural schools lack teachers and facilities resulting in unsatisfactory academic levels. Usually untrained English teachers teach in rural areas and the lack of effective teaching affects future job prospects for rural children. The lower levels of educational attainment mean that rural children are largely not eligible for many government and private sector jobs as English literacy is a prerequisite.

Under these circumstances, rural children such as those in Mahavilachchiya are generally unemployed or underemployed and often work in low paying jobs or join the army.

Despite government initiatives providing computers to rural schools, there are not enough for the number of students, meaning children have restricted time to understand computers and learn from them. Similarly, the provision of computers via telecentre initiatives resulted in many computers sitting idly in rooms. With no people trained to use them, it was a waste of valuable resources.

So under these conditions, Horizon Lanka has understood that rather than keeping the computers in a central location, they should be given to the students and be connected to the Internet through a low-cost solution like mesh. The students can be given training on how to use the online educational content. Competent senior students and youth, with the help of an academic staff member, can monitor them. The youth and adults can be trained on professional, informative and entertaining usage to make a positive difference in their lives.

Project summary

The existing mesh network in Mahavilachchiya contains a few defects that need to be remedied. Due to high demand the network is only covering one side of the village and needs to be expanded to the other side while a tower needs relocation to a better area.

The existing network covers 28 houses and 2 public schools and is expected to expand to another 30 houses with this grant. Horizon Lanka has been able to get 50 more PCs to the students and government offices in the village. Some of those PCs will be connected to the proposed new mesh network. The new grant will also enable nine more communication towers in the village to go up. (Two more towers will be added to the network.) This means there will be 9 Wi-Fi zones in the village. Each Wi-Fi zone will cover a 250 to 1000-metre radius around the tower enabling people to use their laptops. Bandwidth for the 25 available laptops will be increased from 128 kbps to 256 Kbps during the day (7am to 7pm) when the Internet rates are high and increased to 1Mbps during nights (7pm to 7am next day) and weekends. Bandwidth will be further increased if demand increases with the help of Diaspora and the other funding agencies.

Mesh Internet Network in Mahavilachchiya - Phase II Horizon Lanka is proposing to expand wireless network coverage using WDS (Wireless Distribution System) technology from LankaCom in the frequency range of 802.11 b/g in 2.4GHz.

By expanding the mesh network, Horizon Lanka expects to teach English and IT using online resources under experienced English and IT teacher’s supervision. We can measure the improvement of these skills by administering tests before and after the project.

Organization profile

The Horizon Lanka Foundation was established in 1998 because of the determination of a group of children from the rural village of Mahavilachchiya. With the help of Mr. Nandasiri Wanninayaka (now CEO of HL Foundation), an after-school club was formed providing children further education in English and computers. The Horizon Lanka Foundation now services the entire community with their computer lab.

In 2001, the website, www.horizonlanka.org, was launched and by 2004, Horizon Lanka got 24/7 Internet access using RLL technology, the first Sri Lankan rural village to get such a facility even before telephone coverage came to the village.

Horizon Lanka Foundation (HLF) is also responsible for beginning a project called Digital Butterflies which brings PCs to the homes of Mahavilachchiya’s villagers. So far around 100 homes have been furnished with a computer and 10 laptops were provided through Horizon Lanka’s Digital Ambassadors Project.

Horizon Lanka’s innovative ways of teaching English resulted in scores of students getting A’s and B’s for English language at national exams, and many were able to get into tertiary institutions. By early 2008, many Mahavilachchiya youth were able to secure IT jobs.
In November 2006, Horizon Lanka Foundation was able to secure a grant from UNDP to build Sri Lanka’s first mesh Internet network connecting 28 students’ houses and 2 public schools with the Internet. That December, Sri Lanka’s biggest mobile operator additionally installed a mobile network at a time when some bigger towns were not given the facility.

In July 2008, the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka studied the Horizon Lanka model and started replicating the model island wide. One hundred million LKR was allocated from the 2009 National Budget to further support this.

For more information about Horizon Lanka Foundation, visit: http://www.horizonlanka.org

Comments

/groups/isif/search/index.rss?tag=hotlist/groups/isif/search/?tag=hotWhat’s HotHotListHot!?tag=hot9/groups/isif/sidebar/HotListsylviaSylvia Cadena2011-11-24 05:47:03+00:002011-11-24 05:47:03updated12sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-29 11:49:52+00:002011-09-29 11:49:52updated11sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-29 11:49:03+00:002011-09-29 11:49:03updated10sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-29 11:47:51+00:002011-09-29 11:47:51updated9sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-29 11:47:20+00:002011-09-29 11:47:20updated8sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-27 12:38:27+00:002011-09-27 12:38:27updated7sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-27 12:38:12+00:002011-09-27 12:38:12updated6sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-27 12:32:21+00:002011-09-27 12:32:21updated5Added tag - awardsylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-27 12:30:13+00:002011-09-27 12:30:13addTag4Added tag - hotsylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-27 12:30:10+00:002011-09-27 12:30:10addTag3sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-27 12:30:01+00:002011-09-27 12:30:01updated2First createdsylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-27 12:29:39+00:002011-09-27 12:29:39created1wiki2011-11-24T05:47:03+00:00groups/isif/wiki/7fd93FalseAwards ceremony at the 6th IGF in Nairobi/groups/isif/wiki/7fd93/Awards_ceremony_at_the_6th_IGF_in_Nairobi.htmlSylvia Cadena12 updatesAwards ceremony at the 6th IGF in Nairobi [Winners] The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is an annual meeting on global Internet policy, in a multi-stakeholder environment. The theme ...Falsesylvia2011-11-24T05:47:03+00:00Added tag - hotsylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-01 06:17:46+00:002011-09-01 06:17:46addTag9sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-01 05:24:21+00:002011-09-01 05:24:21updated8sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-01 05:13:34+00:002011-09-01 05:13:34updated7sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-01 05:13:12+00:002011-09-01 05:13:12updated6sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-01 05:09:17+00:002011-09-01 05:09:17updated5sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-01 05:08:42+00:002011-09-01 05:08:42updated4sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-01 04:50:34+00:002011-09-01 04:50:34updated3sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-01 04:32:05+00:002011-09-01 04:32:05updated2First createdsylviaSylvia Cadena2011-09-01 04:29:24+00:002011-09-01 04:29:24created1wiki2011-09-01T05:24:21+00:00groups/isif/wiki/b1c52FalseISIF Award 2011 – Celebrating the achievement of innovators in the AP region /groups/isif/wiki/b1c52/ISIF_Award_2011__Celebrating_the_achievement_of_innovators_in_the_AP_region_.htmlSylvia Cadena9 updatesISIF Award 2011 – Celebrating the achievement of innovators in the AP region Local organizations committed with the socio economic development of their communities have been deploying ICT technologies in innovative ways across ...Falsesylvia2011-09-01T05:24:21+00:00sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-23 02:40:42+00:002011-08-23 02:40:42updated5sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-23 02:40:12+00:002011-08-23 02:40:12updated4sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-23 02:29:47+00:002011-08-23 02:29:47updated3Added tag - hotsylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-23 02:28:16+00:002011-08-23 02:28:16addTag2First createdsylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-23 02:28:12+00:002011-08-23 02:28:12created1wiki2011-08-23T02:40:42+00:00groups/isif/wiki/fdbd2FalseSmall grants, inspiring innovation: a program review/groups/isif/wiki/fdbd2/Small_grants_inspiring_innovation_a_program_review.htmlSylvia Cadena5 updatesSmall grants, inspiring innovation: a program review[cover.jpg] This booklet provides a comprehensive review of the ISIF Program from 2008 to 2011. The program seeks to expand its activities in the f...Falsesylvia2011-08-23T02:40:42+00:00sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-19 00:30:54+00:002011-08-19 00:30:54updated45sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-19 00:30:39+00:002011-08-19 00:30:39updated44sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-18 02:44:01+00:002011-08-18 02:44:01updated43Added tag - hotsylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-18 02:44:00+00:002011-08-18 02:44:00addTag42Added tag - 2010sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-18 02:41:10+00:002011-08-18 02:41:10addTag41Added tag - 2009sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-18 02:41:08+00:002011-08-18 02:41:08addTag40Added tag - 2010 reportssylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-18 02:40:57+00:002011-08-18 02:40:57addTag39Added tag - 2009 reportssylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-18 02:40:52+00:002011-08-18 02:40:52addTag38sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-18 02:27:12+00:002011-08-18 02:27:12updated37sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-18 02:24:52+00:002011-08-18 02:24:52updated36sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-16 07:02:34+00:002011-08-16 07:02:34updated35sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-16 06:55:23+00:002011-08-16 06:55:23updated34sylviaSylvia Cadena2011-08-16 06:50:08+00:002011-08-16 06:50:08updated33sylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2011-07-15 06:06:44+00:002011-07-15 06:06:44updated32sylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2011-02-16 09:02:18+00:002011-02-16 09:02:18updated31Removed tag - 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about supported projectssylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2009-04-23 23:46:18+00:002009-04-23 23:46:18addTag2First additionsylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2009-04-23 23:45:18+00:002009-04-23 23:45:18created1wiki2011-08-19T00:30:54+00:00groups/isif/wiki/c5d68FalseGrant Recipients/groups/isif/wiki/c5d68/Grant_Recipients.htmlSylvia Cadena45 updatesGrant Recipients The ISIF report strategy encourage grant recipients to documents their project activities in a variety of formats to share the knowledge and expe...Falsesylvia2011-08-19T00:30:54+00:00sylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2008-04-28 01:07:23+00:002008-04-28 01:07:23updated10Added tag - aboutsylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2008-04-28 01:07:20+00:002008-04-28 01:07:20addTag9sylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2008-04-08 03:24:57+00:002008-04-08 03:24:57updated8Removed tag - hotsylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2008-04-08 03:24:55+00:002008-04-08 03:24:55removeTag7sylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2008-04-08 03:07:57+00:002008-04-08 03:07:57updated6sylviacadenaSylvia Cadena2008-04-08 02:55:35+00:002008-04-08 02:55:35updated5Added tag - 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To maintain and diversify support for ICT and Internet related research & deve...Falsesylviacadena2011-02-16T09:01:20+00:00hot/groups/isif/search/index.rss?sort=modifiedDate&kind=all&sortDirection=reverse&excludePages=wiki/welcomelist/groups/isif/search/?sort=modifiedDate&kind=all&sortDirection=reverse&excludePages=wiki/welcomeRecent ChangesRecentChangesListUpdates?sort=modifiedDate&kind=all&sortDirection=reverse&excludePages=wiki/welcome0/groups/isif/sidebar/RecentChangesListmodifiedDateallRecent ChangesRecentChangesListUpdateswiki/welcomeNo recent changes.reverse5search